Robo Savings For GM

By LANSING, Michigan, Dec 13, 2002; Michael Ellis writing for Reuters reported that General Motors Corp. said on Friday it will save as much as $120 million on each new vehicle model it builds by using robots that can be programmed to handle a variety of cars or trucks on an assembly line.

GM said its so-called "C-Flex" system allows multiple vehicle parts -- such as hoods, engine compartments, and steel floor pans -- from a variety of car or truck models to be welded with the same set of robots and tools.

The programmable robots allow GM to cut the size of plant body shops, where vehicles are assembled, by as much as 150,000 square feet, GM said. Additional costs are cut by decreasing the investment in tooling.

"Five years ago, we spent at least $150 million on a new body shop that was not very flexible," Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, told reporters at GM's new Lansing Grand River assembly plant.

With the new system, GM is able to introduce a new model into a plant for as little as $30 million to $50 million, Cowger said.

"The less capital that is required to do a program, the lower that break-even point," Cowger said.

By cutting the costs of a building a new car or truck, GM is able to consider building more low-volume niche vehicles, Cowger said. C-Flex also gives the automaker more flexibility to respond to changing market demand and shift production to more popular models, he added.

All major automakers have made their main vehicle assembly lines flexible, able to build a multiple number of vehicles using a variety of components, Cowger said. Now, automakers are working to make major and minor subassembly lines, which build vehicle components, also flexible.

GM has added its C-Flex system at its Moraine, Ohio and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma plants where it builds mid-size sport utility vehicles, such as the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy. C-Flex will also be added to GM's new Lansing Grand River plant, where it builds the Cadillac CTS sedan and will begin producing the Cadillac SRX sport utility vehicle next summer. Other assembly plants will add the system when they change over to new vehicles, Cowger said.

Earlier this year, the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG said it shaved 10 percent from its projected costs of building new vehicles over the next five years by using factory tooling longer, and making its plants more flexible.

In the past, as automakers typically redesigned vehicles every five or six years, they would replace all the factory tooling as well. Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler's senior vice president of advance manufacturing engineering, said that Chrysler was now expecting 10 years to 25 years of life from its machinery.